ISSN: 2277-4637 (Online) | ISSN: 2231-5470 (Print) Opinion Vol. 3, No. 1, June 2013 Brand Awareness Among Consumers on Daily Consuming Goods Sweety Gupta* Manpreet Kaur** ABSTRACT The rural population in India accounts for around 627 million, which is exactly 74.3 percent of the total population. The rural market in India brings in bigger revenues in the country, as the rural regions comprise of the maximum consumers in this country. The rural market in Indian economy generates almost more than half of the countrys income. The purpose of the paper is to examine the brand awareness in rural area and to study the attitude of consumer in branded products of Daily Consumption Goods .The brand awareness is showing increasing trend everywhere and Jagraon Region of Punjab State is not an exception to it. To examine the validity of this general statement that is being discussed day in and day out by the researcher, market managers, producers, consumers, advertisers, etc., Research Paper on brand awareness in rural area on Daily Consumption Goods in Jagraon Region of Punjab is taken up. The paper throws light on behavior of rural consumers regarding brands of daily consuming goods. Keywords: Attitude, Brand Awareness, Daily Consumption Goods, Rural Area. I. INTRODUCTION India is a mixed economy a proper mix of urban as well as of rural market. Rural markets are an important and growing market. The rural market in India is not a separate entity in itself and it is highly influenced by the sociological and behavioral factors operating in the country. Management Guru Mr.C.K Pralhads thought fortune lies at the bottom of the pyramid is very true when it comes to exploring the rural markets and grabbing an opportunity to expand the market. Rural markets offer vast growth opportunities like untapped market, large population, and huge scope for penetration etc, at the same time these markets poses some challenges also. Urban market is almost reaching towards the saturation point, thus there is an urgent need to focus on rural development. Moreover, more than 70% of Indias population lives in villages and constitutions a big market for industry because there is an increase in the income and awareness level. In comparison to just 5,161 towns in India there are 6, 38,365 villages in India. This in itself is an indicator where the real India resides. Companies are realizing slowly but surely that the key to gain true market leadership lies in tapping the rural potential. The Daily Consumption Goods sector is a corner stone of the Indian economy. This sector touches every *,**Asst. Professor, Commerce Department, LRDAV Collage, Jagraon www.cpmr.org.in Opinion: International Journal of Management 9 ISSN: 2277-4637 (Online) | ISSN: 2231-5470 (Print) Opinion Vol. 3, No. 1, June 2013 aspect of human life. The daily consumption goods producers have realized that there is ample opportunity for them to enter into the rural market. Today we notice this shift towards branded daily consumption goods in rural areas as a result of Socioeconomics & Political changes in the last 5 years. This has made rural areas more viable markets even compared to urban areas. The Socio Economic and Political changes contributed to a great extent for changes in the lifestyles of countryside people who patronized branded daily consumption products. The different Government policies are also being helpful for rural people contributed in enhancing peoples income followed by a change in their lifestyles resulted in patronizing the branded products. According to the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) about 70 per cent of Indian population living in villages, India has perhaps the largest potential rural market in the world. It has as many as47, 000 haats (congregation markets), compared to 35,000 supermarkets in the US. And of the total FMCGs demand in India, nearly 53 per cent comes from the rural market. At present Indian FMCG sector is worth Rs.1300 billion and expected to be around a whopping value of Rs. 4000 to Rs. 6000 billion by 2020. II. REVIEW OF LITERATURE The two important measure of brand awareness is brand recognition and recall. (Hoyer and Brown, in 1990,)Kapferer, in 1988 says top of mind awareness is critical as it captures the consideration set in a given purchase situation. (Laurent, Kapferer and Roussel, 1995) Study on recall of pictorial advertisements as compared to non-pictorial advertisements indicate how much more effective they are rural consumers as compared to urban consumers. (Velayudhan, 2002) In some studies, brand preference has been equated with brand loyalty (e.g., Rundle-Thiele and Mackay 2001). In other studies, it has been evaluated as a precursor to brand loyalty (e.g., Odin et al. 2001). Ben-Akiva et al. (1999) define preferences as comparative judgments between entities. Additional reasons (other than promotions) why consumers may purchase other brands despite a stated brand preference include a desire to try and learn more about different brands in the category; changing needs or situations; variety seeking; and changes in the available alternatives due to new products or improvements to existing products (Coulter et al. 2003). Alba and Hutchison (1987) propose that experts are more likely to search for new information because (a) expertise increases awareness of the existence of potentially acquirable information and (b) familiarity reduces the cost of information acquisition. Schmidt and Spreng (1996) further postulate that knowledge increases the perceived ability to search and therefore should decrease the perceived costs of search. Greater knowledge has been shown to be positively related to increased involvement with a category (e.g., Raju et al. 1995). Dunn et al. (1978) viewed advertising from its functional perspectives; Morden (1991) is of the opinion that advertising is used to establish a basic awareness of the product. Those views of Etzel et al. (1997) coincide with the simple but all- embracing definitions of Davies (1998) and Arens (1996). Aaker (2000) regarded brand awareness as a remarkably durable and sustainable asset. Yee and Young (2001), aimed to create awareness of high fat content of pies, studied consumer and producer awareness about nutrition labeling on packaging. Chen (2001) expressed a different thought on brand awareness that it was a necessary asset but not sufficient for building strong brand equity. Beverland (2001) analyzed the level of brand awareness within the New Zealand market for zespri kiwi fruit. www.cpmr.org.in Opinion: International Journal of Management 10 ISSN: 2277-4637 (Online) | ISSN: 2231-5470 (Print) Opinion Vol. 3, No. 1, June 2013 III. OBJECTIVES OF RESEARCH PAPER The objective of the study is to understand the buying behavior of the rural consumer towards daily consumption goods. For this, the objectives of the Research Work are as under: To study the perception of the rural consumer towards daily consumption goods. To examine the brand preference and awareness of rural consumer towards daily consumption goods. To study the attributes of brand preference. To know the reasons for preferring branded products in rural areas. IV. NEED OF THE STUDY Daily consumption goods are used to enhance and protect the health and physical appearance and also the dignity of the people among their counterparts. The spending on daily consumption goods especially in the rural areas is showing an increasing tendency in the last 5 years. This is due to increase in income levels, fascination towards urban culture, good connectivity to near- by towns & cities, improvement in sanitary conditions, beauty awareness among teenagers of rural areas emulating their counterparts in the urban areas led to the increased usage of daily consumption goods particularly beauty & health care products in this region. With this backdrop the brand awareness in rural areas with reference to daily consumption goods is thought of. The study is confined only to Jagraon and near villages of Punjab State. It is believed that the findings in this region are fairly representative of the other parts of the State and the lifestyle & other parameters are not much different from what exist in the area of survey. V. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY The methodology of the study is based on the primary as well as secondary data. The study depends mainly on the primary data collected through a well-framed and structured questionnaire to elicit the well-considered opinions of the respondents. The study is confined to 4 villages of jagraon region of Ludhiana district. Jagraon Region of Punjab State is basically a rural oriented region and about 70 percent of population living in villages. Due to financial constraints 4 villages of Ludhiana district namely Sidhwan Bet, Sherpur, Sudhar, Hathoor are chosen for survey by adopting simple random sampling technique. In all 100 respondents are chosen from different age groups classifying them on the basis of literacy with the help of structured & unstructured interviews & discussions with these respondents the information for this survey is gathered. VI. LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY Following are some limitations of this study: Firstly, the research work covers only 4 villages of Ludhiana district. Secondly, the respondents dont want to disclose their personal information Thirdly, the sample size do not ensure representative and conclusive finding and finally, a more detailed study is needed to reach a strong conclusion. VII. FINDING & INTERPRETATIONS 7.1 Demographic profile of respondents 7.1 Demographic profile of respondents Details Frequency (N) Percentage (%) Gender Male 50 50% Female 50 50% Annual income Less than 1,00,000 25 25% 1,00,000-2,00,000 21 21% 2,00,000-3,00,000 14 14% Dependent 40 40% Types of product prefers Prefer brand 27 27% Prefer non brand 33 33% Prefer quality of product over brand 40 40% www.cpmr.org.in Opinion: International Journal of Management 11 ISSN: 2277-4637 (Online) | ISSN: 2231-5470 (Print) Opinion Vol. 3, No. 1, June 2013 7.2 Brand awareness in rural market 7.2 Brand awareness in rural market Tea (%) Soap (%) Toothpaste (%) Shampoo (%) Tata Tea 53 Dettol 73 Colgate 73 Dove 53 Red Label 62 Dove 70 Close- Up 68 Sunsilk 60 Taj Mahal 45 No 1 40 Pepsodent 60 Pantene 70 Taaza 65 Lux 68 Miswak 40 Garnier 75 Brook Bond 35 Lifeboy 75 Sensodine 45 Vatika 40 Average 52 Average 65 Average 57 Average 60 Interpretation It has been concluded from the above table that the average awareness of the respondents in the rural market is 52% in case of tea, 65% in case of soap, 57% in case of toothpaste and 60% average awareness in case of shampoo. 7.5 Interpretation From the above table and pie-chart it can be concluded that respondents mostly become aware from the television as it is on 1 st rank in the sources of awareness. Advertisement and Friends are on 2 nd and 3 rd rank and Internet is on 4 th rank. The awareness through television is 45% , 25% by advertisement,20% by friends and10%by internet 7.3 Brand preference in rural market 7.3 Brand preference in rural market Tea Soap Toothpaste Shampoo category Wt.Sc-ore Rank category Wt.Sc-ore Rank category Wt.Sc-ore Rank category Wt.Sc-ore Rank Tata Tea 8.4 1 Dettol 7.53 1 Close-Up 7.76 1 Sunsilk 11.8 1 Taj Mahal 7.9 2 Lux 7.33 2 Pepsodent 7.26 2 Dove 8.3 2 Red Label 7.6 3 Dove 6.4 3 Colgate 6.42 3 Pantene 8.16 3 Taaza 6.33 4 Life buoy 5.8 4 Sensodine 6.21 4 Garnier 7.45 4 Interpretation It can be concluded from the above table that in case of tea category Tata tea is given 1 st rank, Taj Mahal is on 2 nd rank, 3 rd rank is given to the Red Label and 4 th rank is given to Taaza by the respondents. In case of soap 1 st , 2 nd , 3rd, 4 th ranks are given to the Dettol, Lux, Dove, and Lifebuoy respectively. In case of toothpaste respondents give 1 st rank to Close-up, 2 nd to Pepsodent, 3 rd to Colgate, 4 th to Sensodine. In case of shampoo 1 st rank is given to the Sunsilk, 2 nd is given to the Dove, 3 rd to the Pantene, 4 th to the Garnier. 7.4 SOURCES OF BRAND PREFERENCE 7.4 Source of Brand Preference Factors Percentage (%) Rank Television 45 1 Friends 25 2 Advertisement 20 3 Internet 10 4 www.cpmr.org.in Opinion: International Journal of Management 12 ISSN: 2277-4637 (Online) | ISSN: 2231-5470 (Print) Opinion Vol. 3, No. 1, June 2013 VIII. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS Results of the study are given as follows: The average awareness of the respondents in the rural market is 52%, 65%, 57%, 67%. In case of tea, soap, toothpaste respectively this shows that people in the rural areas have an average awareness about most of the products available in the market. In case of Tea respondents give the 1 st rank to Tata Tea, 2 nd to Taj Mahal, 3 rd to Red Label, 4 th to Taaza. In case of soap 1 st , 2 nd , 3 rd , 4 th ranks are given to the Dettol, Lux, Dove and Lifeboy respectively. .In case of shampoo 1 st rank is given to the Sunsilk, 2 nd is given to the Dove, 3 rd to the Pantene, 4 th to the Garnier. In case of toothpaste respondents give 1 st rank to Close-up, 2 nd to Pepsodent, 3 rd to Colgate, 4 th to Sensodine. As far as the sources from which the respondents became aware can be ranked as 1 st to Television, 2 nd to Advertisement, 3 rd to friends and 4 th to the internet as most of the people are not aware to the use of internet. It is clear from the above study that respondents of different gender groups have different attitude towards the various brand products. Income factor greatly influences the demand for branded products, as clear from the study the dependents are more aware and conscious about the brand of their daily consumption goods. IX. CONCLUSION A study was conducted to see the awareness of brands of various daily consumption goods and their usage in rural areas. There is an increasing trend among the people of rural areas about the awareness of various brands of the daily consumption goods. As people of rural areas are becoming more conscious about their health and other aspects of life.They assume branded products as quality products which are good for their health and for beauty aspect etc. even they are ready to pay high prices for the branded products. They use branded daily consumption for their own reasons. The main reason is they assume the branded products as a status symbol.This change in the attitude of rural people to spend more on the highly priced daily consumption branded products (Example: Dove Soap, Dove Shampoo) shows the tendency of new markets available for suppliers of the various branded products. The need of the hour is only to make aware the rural customers regarding the brand availability of daily consumption goods by educating them about the need to the use of branded products. X. REFERENCES 1 Hoyer, W.D. & Brown, S. P. (2004) 2 Keller, K. L., Heckler, S. E. Heckler & Houston, M.J. (1998) 3 Laurent, G., Kapferer, J. N. & Roussel, F. (1987) Philip kotler , Koshy , Jha Marketing management. 4 Michael J. Zenor :The profit benefits (1994) 5 Official website of Rural marketing Association in India 6 Rao, S. L. (2001). The Rise and fall of Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG)-A Marketing Story. 7 The journal of consumer research 17(2), 141- 148. 8 William G .Zikmund: Business Research Methods 9 www.socialsciences.com